TORONTO — Canadian authorities are claiming to have uncovered a human smuggling ring that has brought hundreds of Romanian refugee claimants to the Toronto area through Mexico, the National Post has learned.

The smugglers are charging between $10,000 and $30,000 for passage to Canada along a route that runs from Mexico to Texas to greater Toronto, according to sources who did not want to be identified.

Those using the pipeline are said to be arriving in Canada indebted to the smugglers and are made to repay them by applying for welfare benefits and engaging in low-level organized crime, the sources said.

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The suspected smuggling scheme is being blamed for a recent spike in Romanian refugee claims, which have climbed from just 57 in 2007 to 258 last year, according to Immigration and Refugee Board figures.

So far, 209 claims have been filed this year (up to the end of September), a pace that would see another jump in 2012. Most claim that as ethnic Roma they face persecution in their home country, but few Romanian refugee claims have been accepted.

The existence of the human smuggling ring was allegedly uncovered during interviews with those who had used its services, most of whom came from the same city in Romania. Two weeks ago, vans carrying Romanians crossed the border at Stanstead, Que., without stopping. The sources said the occupants had been smuggled to Canada through Cancun.

Mexico is being used as a transit hub because it does not have a visa requirement for Romanians, the sources said. The smugglers advise their customers to bring passport-sized photos, which are placed in false documents used in the United States and Canada.

But Gina Csanyi-Robah, executive director of the Roma Community Centre in Toronto, said she was skeptical of the claims. She had not heard about a Romanian human smuggling network and said the recent incident at Stanstead seemed amateurish.

“Look how disorganized and unplanned that is,” she said. “How successful do you think hundreds of people are at getting into the country if you’re seeing that as an example of how they’re doing it?”

Although the number of Romanian refugee claimants is small, the sources said the smuggling ring was sophisticated and had been linked to a crime ring dismantled east of Toronto last month.

Thirty-four suspects were accused of involvement in a crime group that targeted convenience stores, jewelers and seniors. As one suspect distracted the victims, the others would steal goods, stuffing them into pockets sewn into their clothing.

Police estimated the suspects had collected over $2-million in social assistance benefits since January. Investigators identified more than $1-million in suspicious wire transfer overseas. More than 260 charges were laid.

Sgt. Nancy van Rooy, the Durham Regional Police Service spokeswoman, confirmed some of the suspects were in the country illegally and had apparently committed crimes to repay their debts to the smugglers that brought them to Canada.

“They had come into the country and they had paid to arrive illegally and therefore part of their agreement was to cooperate and participate in criminal activity as a means of repayment,” she said Thursday.

Human smuggling networks became a priority for Canadian law enforcement, security and immigration agencies after two ships arrived off the West Coast in 2009 and 2010 carrying almost 600 refugee claimants from Sri Lanka. The Conservatives responded with legislation that imposed mandatory minimum sentences on human smugglers and banned those smuggled into Canada in large-scale operations from sponsoring relatives for five years.

The discovery of the latest human smuggling network comes as Canadian officials are trying to deal with a surge in refugee claims from Eastern Europe, particularly Hungary, which has been Canada’s top source of asylum seekers for the past three years.

I’m totally suspect of that… They would jump on any opportunity to leave, so there’s no forcing or smuggling or coercing

New regulations expected to come into effect by the end of the year would allow the government to fast-track asylum claims made by citizens of countries that produce few successful refugee applicants, such as Eastern European nations. Unfounded claims would be dismissed within 45 days under the new process.

Ethnic Roma face high unemployment and general hostility in Romania, according to human rights groups. The country is a member of the European Union, meaning citizens cannot make refugee claims elsewhere in Europe, although they can visit for three months. Thousands of Romanian Roma have migrated to France and Italy.

“The poverty in Romania for the Roma community there is crazy, it’s like sub-Saharan African in a European country,” Ms. Csanyi-Robah said. “There’s almost complete exclusion of Roma from employment.”

Ms. Csanyi-Robah said she had heard about refugee claimants who had borrowed money from loan sharks to buy plane tickets to Canada, but she doubted they were being drawn into crime to repay smuggling debts.

“I’m totally suspect of that. First of all, I don’t think it takes much prodding for Romanian Roma to leave that country. They would jump on any opportunity to leave, so there’s no forcing or smuggling or coercing. It’s people that want to come.”